Lesson 1

Say who you are

Meet classmates and introduce yourself in a Hebrew class. Practice standard written gender distinctions and neutral person-first sentences.

A1 · Unit 1 · Meet people · 24 steps · about 20 minutes

What you will practice

• Say who is here
• Introduce yourself and classmates

What you will notice

Say who is here

In simple present-tense introductions and location statements, Hebrew uses no separate word for am, is or are: אני כאן means I am here. אני is I; אתה addresses one male and את one female; הוא is he and היא she. אנחנו is we. אתם addresses a male or mixed group; אתן addresses a female-only group. הם is they for a male or mixed group, and הן for a female-only group. כאן means here and שם means there. This lesson practices the neutral order: person first, then the description or location. Other word orders can occur in context; they are outside these construction prompts.

• אני כאן.I am here.
• אתה כאן.You are here. (one male)
• את כאן.You are here. (one female)
• הוא כאן.He is here.
• היא כאן.She is here.

More than one person

Group pronouns still take no separate word for are. The gender of a group selects its pronoun. Use אתם and הם for male or mixed groups; use אתן and הן for female-only groups. אנחנו includes the speaker. Each example below is a complete statement.

• אנחנו כאן.We are here.
• אתם כאן.You are here. (male or mixed group)
• אתן כאן.You are here. (female-only group)
• הם כאן.They are here. (male or mixed group)
• הן כאן.They are here. (female-only group)
• אני שם.I am there.

Introduce yourself and classmates

שמי means my name; שמי דנה means My name is Dana. To say someone is a student, put the person first without a separate word for is: דן תלמיד and דנה תלמידה. תלמיד is a male student, תלמידה a female student, תלמידים male or mixed students, and תלמידות female-only students. אני and אנחנו do not specify gender; choose the student form from the person or group described in the prompt. These are classroom students; general noun endings and other uses of pronouns are for later lessons.

• שמי דן.My name is Dan.
• שמי דנה.My name is Dana.
• דן תלמיד.Dan is a male student.
• דנה תלמידה.Dana is a female student.
• רון תלמיד.Ron is a male student.
• הם תלמידים.They are students. (male or mixed group)
• אתן תלמידות.You are students. (female-only group)

Words in this lesson

• אניI
• אתהyou (one male)
• אתyou (one female)
• הואhe
• היאshe
• אנחנוwe
• אתםyou (male or mixed group)
• אתןyou (female-only group)
• הםthey (male or mixed group)
• הןthey (female-only group)
• כאןhere
• שםthere
• שמיmy name
• תלמידstudent (male)
• תלמידהstudent (female)
• תלמידיםstudents (male or mixed group)
• תלמידותstudents (female-only group)
• דןDan (a name)
• דנהDana (a name)
• רוןRon (a name)
• נועהNoa (a name)